ARTSBEAT; Russell Brand as TV Host

By DAVE ITZKOFF

Published: December 17, 2011

Having risen and fallen and risen again a few times already on the British airwaves, Russell Brand now finds himself in ascendance on American television, where he'll host a series of late-night specials for the FX cable network next year, FX announced on Thursday.

Mr. Brand, the irrepressible comedian, actor, author and personality, will shoot six episodes of an unscripted series that will offer his ''unvarnished, unfiltered take on current events, politics and pop culture,'' according to a news release from FX, and capture his unpredictable interactions with a studio audience.

Best known to American audiences for his roles in the comedies ''Forgetting Sarah Marshall'' and ''Get Him to the Greek'' (and perhaps for his off-screen identity as the husband of the pop star Katy Perry), Mr. Brand has also written two best-selling autobiographies, ''My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs and Stand-Up'' and ''My Booky Wook 2: This Time It's Personal.'' In his writing, Mr. Brand has amply owned up to drug and sex addictions that dogged him earlier in his career and cost him a hosting job at British MTV, where he came to work dressed as Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks. He set off another British broadcasting scandal in 2008 when he and Jonathan Ross left a series of lewd messages on the actor Andrew Sachs's answering machine during a show co-hosted by Mr. Brand and Mr. Ross.

The now-sober Mr. Brand said Thursday in a randy, not-totally-printable-in-a-family-newspaper statement that he was excited to be working with the Fox-owned FX channel, adding sarcastically: ''At least I'll be able to have a Christmas drink with Bill O'Reilly.''

His as-yet untitled series is planned to make its debut in the spring.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.